University of Queensland

UNSW researchers have managed to make cold brew coffee in under 3 minutes using an espresso machine and ultrasound

Around The Home

Cold brew coffee in under 3 minutes? Ultrasound makes it possible

A fresh cup of coffee in the morning can be vital for facing the day ahead, but what if you had to wait a day to get your caffeine hit? That's on the menu if you like your Joe brewed cold, but researchers have used ultrasound to cold brew in minutes.

The 12-pen SeaFisher, which stays on the surface as long as the waves don't get too high

Good Thinking

Video: Eco-friendlier offshore fish farm sinks to ride out storms

A new type of storm-resistant fish farm could make aquaculture operations more eco-friendly. The submersible structure is designed to stay in the deep waters of the open ocean, where it should have less environmental impact than shore-adjacent pens.

With power densities around 7000 W/kg, GMG claims its graphene aluminum-ion battery technology could charge a phone battery in 1-5 minutes

Energy

Superfast-charging aluminum-ion batteries outpower lithium-ion

Australian company Graphene Manufacturing Group has announced exciting performance test results for a new type of aluminum-ion battery that can charge over 10X faster than today's lithium-ion units, while lasting much longer and needing no cooling.

Drones

Drone safety system stops props before they cut fingers

If there's one thing that's scary about quadcopter drones – besides their ability to invade peoples' privacy or fall on their heads – it's those fast-spinning rotor blades. An experimental new system, however, is designed to stop the rotors before they can do any cutting.

Marine

Marine animals inspire more accurate underwater navigation system

In a way, our options are pretty limited when it comes to finding our way around the ocean. But scientists are claiming a new breakthrough in the world of underwater navigation, taking inspiration from marine animals that use polarizing light in some clever ways.

The free-flying hypersonic glider is designed to fly at Mach 8

Aircraft

Successful test flight for hypersonic glider

The dream of a flight from London to Sydney in two to four hours came a step closer to reality after the latest iteration of the HiFIRE hypersonic vehicle made another successful experimental flight at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia.

Aircraft

Experimental hypersonic craft hits Mach 7.5

The Australian Department of Defence has announced that the HIFiRE 5B hypersonic aircraft has reached a velocity of Mach 7.5 over the Woomera Test range.

Dr. Nasim Amiralian with a sample of the latex

Materials

Grass used to make thinner, stronger condoms

Scientists are having success with condoms made from a latex with added nanocellulose obtained from a native grass. Not only are they stronger than regular latex condoms, but they could be as thin as the diameter of a human hair.

The underside of the second-stage Spartan vehicle under development is equipped with quad 3D scramjets

Space Systems

Scramjet-based project looks to blast Australia into space

If the University of Queensland (UQ) and Heliaq Advanced Engineering get their way, Australia could be joining the spacefaring club. The two are teaming up on a project intended to deliver payloads weighing from 50 to 500 kg (110 to 1,102 lb) into orbit.

Space Systems

Scramspace flight ends in failure

The University of Queensland’s Scramspace hypersonic experiment ended in failure today as the unmanned spacecraft plummeted into the North Sea off the coast of Norway. After a successful launch, Scramspace failed to reach the required altitude to begin the hypersonic flight experiment.